


Hashtag Perfect

by phoenixwings



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Chubby Katsuki Yuuri, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, Insecurity, M/M, Married Couple, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 19:10:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9398927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixwings/pseuds/phoenixwings
Summary: Most days Yuuri’s okay with his body, he really is. It’s a capable body that’s allowed him to skate, to win, to love. It enables him to hold Victor close, to teach the beginning skating class at the rink which he loves doing, to cook and cuddle and care. But sometimes the insecurity that was ever-present in his youth creeps back in and hits him tenfold when he thinks about how much his body has changed.





	

“I think we should print this one,” Victor says, pointing at a picture on his phone. It’s one Yuuri knows well, though he has no recollection of the events leading up to it still — a photo of him dipping Victor low and holding up Victor's leg with a strong arm. Both of their eyes are bright, Yuuri looks remarkably composed for someone who had sixteen flutes of champagne, and Victor’s expression is so adoringly unguarded it still takes Yuuri’s breath away.

It’s been a long time since he’s seen any photos of that night. Their apartment is filled with photos of their life together, but they’ve made so many memories it’s easy to forget how it all started. About a year into their marriage, Victor had the bright idea to send some of his Instagram pictures off for prints. Yuuri had rolled his eyes at first, but now he cherishes the reminder of their life together. They have a large board that takes up a decent amount of space on the wall in their living room that displays their favorite photos. There are all kinds of pictures on the board: several photos of both of them in competition outfits, pictures of them at a beach in Spain, a few candids from their wedding, and endless photos of them curled up together on the couch much like they are now. Then there are photos of their friends: one of Mila and Sara dancing, one of Phichit giving a toast at their wedding, one of Yuri asleep on their couch with Makkachin in his lap, one of a large group of them at a pop-up ice rink that they had gone to after Worlds. Now Victor gets new pictures printed all the time, and about once a month he drags Yuuri onto the couch to go through a bunch of old pictures and make him pick his favorites.

“It’s a good picture,” Yuuri agrees, “I’ve put on weight since then.”

At thirty-one and no longer a professional athlete, his metabolism isn’t the same. His frame has filled out considerably. He can still skate, easily, but he can’t land a quad anymore—though, at thirty-six, Victor can’t really either. But Victor still looks young and athletic—Yuuri supposes still being at the rink six days a week will do that, even if Victor’s now on the sidelines rather than the star. It makes Yuuri self-conscious when he looks at them both in the mirror. Victor’s getting permanent wrinkles at the corner of his eyes, he’s lost some muscle mass, and his hair has actually thinned a bit, but on the whole he doesn’t look much different than he did seven years ago.

“Yes,” Victor says, “And more gorgeous every day.”

Yuuri hides his face in his hands and ducks further under Victor’s shoulder. “You don’t have to say that just to make me feel better.”

Most days Yuuri’s okay with his body, he really is. It’s a capable body that’s allowed him to skate, to win, to love. It enables him to hold Victor close, to teach the beginning skating class at the rink which he loves doing, to cook and cuddle and care. But sometimes the insecurity that was ever-present in his youth creeps back in and hits him tenfold when he thinks about how much his body has changed. He weighs more now than he ever has, and he knows that’s to be expected, really—he’s no longer pushing his body to its limit and blazing through thousands of calories in daily training sessions. His shirts have a tendency to rise up his stomach now and he can’t wear most of Victor’s old shirts anymore, which he misses.

Victor frowns. “I didn’t say it _just_ to make you feel better.”

Yuuri sinks back further in the couch cushions and misses the space where Makkachin used to sit. It’s another reminder of how things have changed, and even though most of it has been really, really good, some of it—like loosing Makkachin—just feels raw and painful when he thinks about it years later.

“My stomach’s round, and it’s got stretch marks all over and the skin on the back of my thigh is—”

“Perfect,” Victor cuts him off.

“Wrinkled,” Yuuri finishes.

“Oh Yuuri,” Victor sighs. He untangles his arm from the back of Yuuri’s neck and Yuuri instantly misses the warmth. Victor tugs on Yuuri’s shirt lightly, then looks up at him. Yuuri inhales sharply but doesn’t stop him. Victor pushes the shirt up far enough to expose his stomach. Yuuri wants to look away. Right now he doesn’t even like what he sees, so why should Victor? And yet the sight of Victor staring at his skin is too mesmerizing to _not_ watch. Victor leans down and delicately kisses the middle of Yuuri’s stomach and runs a finger over one of the stretch marks that dot Yuuri’s skin there.

“Do you have any idea how much I love this?” Victor asks before he places a kiss directly on top of a mark. He moves on to the next one. “How much I love the reminder of how strong your body is?”

“It’s not that strong,” Yuuri protests.

Victor looks up at him, light fingers still tracing over Yuuri’s stomach. “It’s got you this far, hasn’t it?”

Yuuri quiets at that, because it’s hard to argue with Victor’s logic. Victor dips his head down again and places his lips against another mark. Yuuri tangles his hand in Victor’s hair, messaging the scalp softly. Victor’s touched him like this before, of course, but it’s different when it’s done without any heat behind it. In the daylight, with Victor adoring his body without any expectations of what might come next, the weight of Victor's actions hits Yuuri so much harder.

“We might be here a long time if you insist on doing that to each one,” Yuuri says, his voice shaky.

Victor looks up again. He caresses Yuuri’s face with his free hand. “As long as it takes,” He promises. He leans over and traces another mark with the pad of his thumb.

“You have no idea, do you?” Victor asks, his mouth almost but not quite pressed against flesh. “How much I desire you? How beautiful I find you? How lucky I know I am to be married to you?”

Victor moves carefully from line to line. Yuuri watches him the entire time as he traces every single one. The whitened spots of his own flesh show up well against the pink of Victor’s mouth, and Yuuri finds himself entranced. When Victor finishes, he sits back on his heels and grabs the seam of Yuuri’s shirt to pull it back down.

“Leave it,” Yuuri says, putting his hand over Victor’s. He knows Victor can probably see the tears in his eyes he’s not letting fall, but he presses their foreheads together anyway. Victor brings his other hand up to cradle the back of Yuuri’s head.

“I love you,” Yuuri whispers.

“I love you too,” Victor replies, “All of you.” He gives Yuuri’s stomach a gentle squeeze, which tickles and makes Yuuri laugh at the sensation. Victor reaches over to grab his phone from the coffee table. He turns on the front-facing camera and holds it up and aims the screen at the two of them.

“What are you doing?” Yuuri asks, glancing down at his still-exposed stomach.

“How do you feel right now?” Victor asks instead of answering, his hand playfully dancing across the marks on Yuuri’s body. Yuuri squirms a bit.

“Um. . .” Yuuri trails off. How does he feel? He still feels a little self-conscious, but also _adored. cherished. treasured._ Out loud he says, “Happy. Loved.” His cheeks burn when he says it, but he doesn’t take it back. How could he ever, when Victor’s looking at him so fondly?

“Yeah,” Victor says, glancing at him with a soft smile on his face. “I want you to remember that.”

“Okay,” Yuuri agrees, and turns his head towards the camera. Victor draws him closer so their face are pressed together and Yuuri smiles right before he hears the familiar click.

“Just a couple more,” Victor says, startling him with a kiss to the cheek just as the picture is snapped. Yuuri’s eyes widen in surprise and he laughs. Victor tickles Yuuri before the next one, so Yuuri ends up laughing harder and pressing his cheek into Victor’s shoulder. Victor brings up the picture roll on his phone so they can look at them, and Yuuri decides he loves all three.

“You can put those on Instagram,” Yuuri says, surprising himself. It’s not easy for him to say. His stomach is still exposed in all three photos, and the camera angle and the natural light streaming in from their bay window make the marks on his stomach perfectly clear. Yuuri’s always been guarded about photos of himself, especially compared to his husband. Scrolling back far enough in Victor’s Instagram feed will yield photos of shirtless Victor and Christophe at the beach and in the pool, but Yuuri’s always kept covered in photos. Even in the pictures Victor took of him at the beach, his body was always hidden by water or a towel.

He knows that if he lets Victor put the pictures on the internet, inevitability some people will be cruel about it. They’ll post comments about how he’s let himself go now that he’s retired or about how Victor can do better.

Yuuri finds he doesn’t care. The only person whose opinion counts other than his own is sitting right beside him, and Victor’s love and adoration make Yuuri feel bold. He knows this won’t last forever; he’s lived with his insecurity and fluctuating self-esteem for thirty-one years. He’ll have more bad days, more times when he looks into the mirror and has trouble liking anything he sees. But he also knows he’ll have more days of Victor whispering reassurances in his ear, more days of his imperfect and marvelous body allowing him to do everything he wants.

Victor puts the photos in a collage app and shows it to Yuuri for approval.

 **V-nikiforov:** Quiet Saturday with my adorable husband! #perfect #yuurikatsukinikiforov #heisticklish #love

“Post it,” Yuuri says, “It’s perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come chat with me about YOI or anything else over on [Tumblr](https://burningphoenixwings.tumblr.com)!


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